How To Survive An Animal Attack
by Schnickledooger
Summary: Matt takes T.K. to the zoo and they get confronted by two escaped animals. The bushy-haired lion wants to adopt them into his pride, but Matt isn’t sure what to make of the koala and her whistle. Pre-Season 01. Chibi-cuteness. Matt/Tai friendship fic.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own **Digimon.** Toei Animation does.

**Summary: **Matt takes T.K. to the zoo and they get confronted by two escaped animals. The bushy-haired lion seems to want to adopt them into his pride, but Matt's isn't sure what to make of the koala and her whistle. Pre-Season 01. Chibi-cuteness.

**A/N:** Before you begin reading, just know that the four main characters here are human. Matt just has an over-active imagination^^

**How To Survive An Animal Attack**

Matt often prided himself on being a good, assertive, older brother. He always knew when T.K. was having a nightmare and woke him up before it got too scary. He knew what foods his brother liked and didn't and scooped the unwanted parts onto his own plate at dinner when his mother wasn't looking. He knew the best way to distract T.K. from crying when he scraped his knee was to tell him funny stories about the crazy cat lady who lived a floor above them while he put on the bandage. He also knew that when their parents' voiced started to grow loud and fast-paced that it was time to take T.K. and go somewhere for a few hours until the argument was over.

He used to take them to the park, but he had recently discovered that the territory had been claimed by two terrorizing demons who liked to toy with their victims before eating them alive.

So he took T.K. to the zoo the next time the shouting began. His little brother loved watching the animals, and he had enough pocket change saved up that they could eat themselves sick on ice-cream and hot pretzels.

He hadn't thought about the slim possibility of animals escaping their confinement until it was too late.

Matt was off guard when a heavy weight suddenly collided into him from behind and sent him sprawling face-first into the ground. The ice cream cone he had just bought for the two brothers to share almost a split second ago had been knocked out of his hand by the hard impact and now lay melting in a pitiful puddle. T.K. began to cry at the sight.

His nerves boiling, he shoved the weight off his back and leaped up ready to unleash his rage at whoever was responsible for ruining their treat. But he never expected to come face-face with a lion.

The first thing he noticed was that it was male. He had read that only male lions possessed a mane and the one in front of him was no exception with his wild, brown, bushy hair ringed around his head. The second thing he noticed was that the lion was standing on two legs not four very much like a human and even was wearing clothes! He even had an odd sort of collar hanging around his neck: a black strap fastened to two, ovular, plastic pieces held securely in white frames.

Matt gaped at the sight, frozen in place with shock. Alright, so this lion could_ possibly_ be tame—he might even be on loan from the circus. He knew they dressed up animals in costumes there and taught them to walk upright on their hind-legs. Still, the fact that there was a _lion_... in _front_ of him… who had just_ pounced_ on him for fun… was not making him calm down any.

The lion cocked his bushy head to one side curiously and stared him down with chocolate-brown eyes as if sizing him up. Probably deciding on which part of him looked the best to make his new scratching post.

Dimly, Matt recalled T.K.—he had to protect him! Lions always went after the smallest and weakest first, and though he knew his brother was stronger than he believed, he was on the short side. But he couldn't seem to tear his gaze away from those chocolate orbs that seemed to glitter with amusement. He jumped a little when the lion stretched his lips into a wide grin, baring his teeth at him.

He fell over when it spoke.

"Sorry about that! Didn't mean to run into you, but I tripped," the lion said like it was perfectly natural for lions to go around talking.

Matt's mind raced furiously trying to figure out this new anomaly. This lion could walk upright and talk—he must be a magic lion, like the one in _the Wizard of Oz _that his Mom sometimes read to him and T.K. before bedtime.

"Hey, you need help up?" the lion asked, offering out his fore-paw and Matt noted he was wearing white gloves, probably protective gear for his claws.

Matt ignored the outstretched paw and got up on his own aid and simply stood there at a loss for words.

"Do you understand me at all? Are you a foreigner?" the lion asked since he hadn't received a single syllable in reply, narrowing his furry eyebrows as if something was wrong.

Matt felt an overwhelming need to laugh hysterically. A lion was _talking_ to him and _he _couldn't see tell what was weird here? Before he could let lose one frenzied chuckle though, he heard his brother's voice.

"Matt's school has a bunny. They keep it in a hut in the yard. But I can only pet it whenever I visit, `cause I don't go there yet. It has white fur though. I never saw any animal with pink fur before, `cept for that one time I accidentally spilled cherry kool-aid all over our neighbor's cat."

Matt looked at T.K. confused. That must have been the longest speech he had ever heard his brother say. And why did he sound like he was talking to someone else? Then he blinked when his eyes landed on the animal beside his brother.

It was a koala. A _pink_ koala.

It was about the same size as T.K., give or take an inch and was pink all the way from its round-tufted ears down, except for its front paws and face which appeared to be covered in a fine sheen of peach-fuzz and its back paws, which had slippers covering them strangely.

"Oh that's my little sister, Kari," the lion said when he caught Matt gawking. "My sister. Kari," he repeated slowly, motioning between himself and the koala with exaggerated paw gestures.

_The lion has a koala for a sister?_ Matt thought. She must have been abandoned by her mother and the lion had adopted her. One of the crazy cat lady's cats had done that with some baby squirrels. Still, he couldn't help but wonder if the lion was saving her for a snack some time in the future.

"My name's T.K. and that's my brother, Matt!" T.K. said cheerily to the koala.

The koala said nothing, only blew on the whistle that dangled from around her neck.

"T.K., you don't go around giving our names to strangers!" Matt shouted.

He wanted to have said "giving our names to strange animals" but he was worried the lion might take offense at that and eat him.

"Sorry, Matt," T.K. said, sounding ashamed.

"Hey, you _can _talk!" the lion exclaimed delighted, whacking Matt heartily on the back with one gloved paw. "Great! Let's walk around together!"

There wasn't any room to argue. How could anyone refuse a lion without getting mauled? So Matt swallowed his fear and dignity and allowed himself to be herded around the zoo, feeling very much like a mouse being batted about by a cat… which he was: a very _large_ cat.

He never had been one to make conversation and being at the moment tongue-tied (or rather the cat having caught it), Matt kept mostly silent, but that didn't seem to deter the lion from rambling on non-stop.

"My-name's-Tai-and-I-like-soccer-I-have-to-babysit-my-sister-while-Mom's-out-grocery-shopping-but-it's-boring-at-home-and-I-always-get-attacked-our-psycho-cat-so-we-came-here-I-hope-we-get-there-in-time-to-see-the-sea-lion-show-Kari-likes-watching-them-feed-the-penguins-the-best-what's-your-favorite-animal—_blah, blah, blah..."_

Matt watched with a vigilant eye several times for an escape route, but none ever opened. Besides, the lion was keeping a pretty firm grip on his arm. But at least the lion's attention appeared to be focused on him and not his brother. Concerned, he glanced over his shoulder, but his brother seemed totally oblivious to the danger surrounding them was walking alongside the pink koala, chatting like they were the best of friends.

"Matt's a real good cook! He never makes mistakes like I do. One time I put an egg in the microwave to hard-boil it, but instead it exploded and sparks flew out of the electric socket. Mommy was real mad!"

The koala whistled several times and T.K. laughed like she had said something extremely funny.

This was going to be a very long day it seemed. Yet, over the next few hours, Matt was surprised to find himself having fun. Sometime between clapping at the sea lion performance, which consisted of rolling on a giant, red ball and balancing a fish on their noses, and watching the penguins swim around in the icy water and wait for their meal with their beaks gaping open like baby birds, Matt realized he had gone against his better judgment and relaxed. The lion could have been luring his prey into a false sense of security before striking the fatal blow, but he somehow, Matt didn't believe that anymore. Maybe it was watching him scarf down three hotdogs, a whole bag of popcorn and two slushies that changed his mind. Either the lion lived off of junk food or he was too full now to even bother with raw meat. Or he had turned omnivorous for his sister's sake.

Speaking of which…

"Don't get too attached, T.K.," Matt whispered to his brother as they waited for the koala to finish her turn at the water fountain, which the lion was currently helping her to reach by lifting her onto his shoulders. "Mom will never let us keep them."

"Aw, Matt, _please?_" T.K. pleaded giving his best puppy-eyed expression. "Kari can sleep in my closet. And Tai can sleep outside on the balcony at night. Mommy'll never hafta know!"

_"No," _Matt emphasized. "Besides, the big one eats too much. We can't afford his appetite and the little one needs a special diet of eucalyptus leaves."

"We could buy some from the pet store!" T.K. insisted.

"They don't carry it," Matt said and T.K. looked sad enough to burst into tears at any moment.

"Don't worry," Matt continued hastily. "They live at Highton View Terrace like we do or so I've been told. We can still play with them."

Briefly, he wondered how that was possible. He knew pets were allowed there, but he hadn't known the rules extended to include wild animals. Their owner must be rich.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" T.K. cheered happily.

So the two brothers continued their trip through the zoo guided by an enthusiastic lion and a whistling koala and laughed at the monkeys grooming each other and made up random, silly phrases trying to get the tropical birds to repeat them and marveled at the exotic fish and the aquarium. They rode the tram to the safari zone to see the hippos happily soaking in the mud and giraffes stretching their long necks to reach the leaves at the top of the tree and the elephants giving themselves a shower with their trunks.

The lion grew especially excited when they passed by his own family and attempted to speak to them in loud roars, which they ignored in a bored fashion. Matt wondered if being raised by humans had made him an outcast, but the lion didn't seem to be too bothered at their shunning and moved on rather quickly.

By the time they finished seeing the whole zoo, it was afternoon and Matt realized with a jolt that now they all had to return home and part with their new friends. The thought made him feel lonely already. The lion really wasn't that bad once he had gotten used to the shock of him walking and talking like a normal human. He just needed to be trained at not jumping on people. After all, who else could say they had a magical lion as their friend? But they did live in the same apartment complex, so they could have a little more time together riding home on the subway.

It was really too bad then that when they neared the exit gates, the lion sniggered evilly and found it extremely hilarious to break into a mad dash as if he were fleeing and shout at the top of his lungs, "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!! THEY'VE ESCAPED!!!"

The screaming and stampede that followed caused the two parties to become separated. Though, Matt and T.K. did happen to catch one last glimpse of their friends through the sea of chaos: the koala riding piggy-back style on the lion's back waved at them broadly before giving a final, shrill whistle as a farewell. Then they were swept up in the frantic crowd and lost to sight.

Matt decided that there were several different ways to survive an animal attack, but sometimes it was better and more fun for you _not_ to.

**The End**

**A/N: **This is a companion fic to **How To Survive A Close Encounter**, but this can be read separately without any confusion. Who knows? I might just make a series of Matt and his meeting with the other Digidestined kids in How To Survive scenarios. I can't help it if he has an over-active imagination as a kid^^ Hmm, I wonder who shall the next victim—er, I mean character he runs into should be?

Agh, first of all, I just want to clarify that Tai is my favorite character, so if anyone took offense at him being described as a lion all the time and Matt thinking he might be derived from the circus—this is a humor fic and it's perfectly normal to poke fun at characters, even your favorites, alright? I hope no one thought I was bashing him or anything. There seemed to be some confusion of that in my other How to Survivefic.

Second, yes, Kari is wearing her koala pajamas and I had to go back and re-watch Ep. 29 and the beginning of Digimon the Movie to make sure I got them right. I was certain she had been wearing rabbit pajamas and found out I was wrong and had to change what I had written. You can see the remnants of that small detail when T.K. starts going on about the bunny at Matt's school. And apparently, the color of the koala pajamas are creamish-beige? At least they were in Ep. 29, but in the movie they were pink. That might be just the shading at night though, because after Greymon and Parrotmon disappear and morning breaks, her pajamas turn cream again. Ugh. So I went for pink anyway, because it seemed more fun to write.

Hehe, I wrote this because I've been getting reviews saying there are too few Matt/Tai friendship fics so I added to the number count now! I've got plenty more up my sleeve!

So, now that you've read it, how did you like it? I hope you enjoyed it. I'd love to hear your favorite parts and lines. It would make my day. So please review, it's the only reward fanfic authors get for writing! Thank you!


End file.
